JR SportBrief Hour 3

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Visit BetterHelp.com slash positive and save 10% on our first month. You're listening to the JR Sportbrief on CBS Sports Radio. You're listening to the JR Sportbrief on CBS Sports Radio. It is the JR Sportbrief show here with you on CBS Sports Radio, and we are coming to you live from the Rocket Mortgage Studios.

If you need to know what it takes for a home to fit your budget and your family, Rocket, Rocket can. Listen, I'm going to be hanging out here with you for the next two hours, but it is a four hour show. I get started 10 p.m. Eastern Time, 7 p.m. Pacific. I'm joined by super producer and host Dave Shepherd, and thank you to everybody listening all over North America. Whether you're tuned in on your local affiliate, whether you're getting out of work, whether you're going to work, whether you're at home, thank you. You can always listen on the free Odyssey app as well.

Sirius XM Channel 158 and a smart speaker. However you listen, thank you for being here. It's been a busy night.

It's been a busy show. We've talked about the college football playoff rankings. Georgia still at number one, Michigan at number two. TCU moves up to number three, and USC moves up to number four. Ohio State, Alabama, they are on the outside looking in. And LSU, they might as well kiss their chances goodbye unless they absolutely destroy Georgia by like 100 to zero.

I don't think that's necessarily going to happen. We talked about Jeff Saturday. We talked about the Harbaugh's, Jim and John, Lamar Jackson, Michigan.

We talked about LeBron James and Tom Brady. We're going to talk about the World Cup. Yeah, the United States of America actually moving on.

What are we doing here? The United States of America is good at soccer. Well, I guess, or football. They beat Iran today in a match that seemed to be much more than just a sporting event. We had athletes being asked about inflation, about racism in America. It's just like, are we here to talk about how good or bad America is? Are we here to play football or soccer depending on where you're from? And now the United States of America will move on in Qatar, of all places.

A very wild place. It's tough to watch sports under certain circumstances. We'll talk about that momentarily. We have some callers here on the line. They've been waiting patiently.

I'm going to get them on. I want to ask you about this World Cup. Like, are you interested? Do you care? Have you been paying attention? Have all of the, I don't want to say politics, because that's the wrong word. Just societal issues, global issues.

Have it, or has it dampened, you know, your ability to sit down and watch some of the games? And I'm going to talk about the people who made some of these stadiums. We'll get there. Let's get to some of the calls.

We have quite a few people with varying opinions. Steve is calling from New Orleans. You're on CBS Sports Radio. What's up, Steve? Hey, good evening. How are you?

I'm very well. Let me preface my remarks by saying that I practiced divorce law for 42 years. I have a pretty good sense of what Tom Brady is going through. And if he's going through what I've seen the last 42 years, he's got it much worse off than LeBron James. However, however, that could all change based upon the fact that Brady has shown that football is more important to him than being married, because Tampa Bay, notwithstanding their less than 500 record, could still win their division, could still get in the playoffs. And once you get in the playoffs, you know, there's no telling what Brady could do. And if he gets in through a couple of rounds, you never know. I mean, just look at Eli Manning against the 17 and 0 Pats years ago.

You never know. So Brady could end up okay. LeBron, on the other hand, he knows he's on a losing team. He still has his family. And I don't think his priority is winning titles at this point. I think his priority is playing long enough that he could play with his son. And if he can do that, I think he'll be happy.

So right now, Brady's got it worse than LeBron, but you got to see what happens between now and the end of the season. Okay. Thank you, Steve, for calling from New Orleans.

Ron from South Carolina, you're on. Thank you for taking my call. I appreciate you. Listen, I want to make it kind of clear.

I got a couple points to make. But number one, I can't understand anyone that will call your radio show and tell you what happened between Tom Brady and his wife. Nobody knows what happened between Tom Brady and his wife. And their kids probably don't know what happened between them two.

And the last caller said, you know, he was given an ultimatum. We don't know anything like that. And that's not facts.

And you read something on the internet and you roll with it. I want to tell you something. I heard Tom Brady on a clip that I picked up from a field mic and a camera where he was screaming, screaming at his offensive line that he left his wife and kids to come here.

And you guys are killing it for him. And that's all we could hear. Well, slow down, Ron. You have quite a bit of feedback there. I don't know if you're you're calling me up from a microwave or VCR.

Look, it's hilarious or it's hilarious isn't the word. It's ironic that you call me up and you tell me about hearsay and we don't know, which is true. But we can go by what his wife has said. She is on record by out of her own mouth from her own brain saying that she wishes this man would spend more time at home that that she is on record saying that multiple times from herself.

What happens in the house? We have no idea, but we can certainly assume. Now, having said that, as we shouldn't make further assumptions outside of what she has said and what happens to be common sense. The instance that you just brought up is also inaccurate. You know, if he wasn't necessarily caught on a field, Mike, that was something that was captioned online while he was yelling at his alignment. Ron, go ahead.

That's also that was inaccurate what you just said, but finish up. I just want people to judge Tom Brady on his achievements, on what he is as a man. He's a great father, but stay out of his private life. I mean, everybody's into his marriages. It's all over the Internet.

It's like, what's going on? He's a football player. Yeah, he is.

So judge him on his achievements and judge him on that and know that he's the GOAT, like you said, and respect that and leave his private life alone. OK, but thank you, Ron, for calling from South Carolina. I hear you, Ron. He is a he is a private figure. Excuse me. He is a public figure with a public life.

Unfortunately, that comes with the territory, especially when you open that up. And there's no handbook for this. There's no handbook for fame. There's no handbook that says this is how you take care of it. This is how you publicize your fan. There's no handbook for that.

I want to play this actually in a little bit as well. Tyson Fury just sat down with I can't I'm a screw his name. My apologies, Arielle Hawany. And he was asked about the biggest moment in his career when he beat Klitschko back in 1415. Tyson Fury, someone we know, has dealt with many substance abuse issues, has openly discussed his battles with suicidal thoughts. Tyson Fury said that that was the worst part of his life because the past seven years have been crap living in the public eye.

That Tyson Fury, who's been very open about his own personal troubles, which have certainly, I assume, helped many people. He said he can't go outside. Without people talking to him, he can't go anywhere. He's a giant human being. His life is different. He said there's nothing that would have prepared him for that. And so as we talk about, oh, well, we don't know Tom Brady and we don't know what's going on in his life. You're 100 percent correct. We don't. But there's certain degrees that you can, quote unquote, let people in.

Tom Brady and his wife have led very open lives. If it's clean, we can play it off of his Twitter right now, if you want. What, Tyson Fury?

Yeah, the Ariel thing you talked about? Oh, it's probably dirty. Good glass. Oh, no, it's probably dirty.

Yeah, no, it probably needs a bleep or two. But you got options. There's some professional athletes. You don't know everything about their personal life. You might know they're married. Some guys, you don't know who they're married to. You know, you're honest that a kung fu people may not know this.

Maybe I have no business saying it. He married someone who worked on staff. I don't know his wife's name or his girlfriend's name.

I don't know the kids names. They're there. Some guys, you have no idea what's going on.

But I guess you reach a certain point of status and stature and you got no choice. I wouldn't know. 855-212-4CBS, Ian. He's calling from Toronto. You're on the JR Sport Brief Show.

Yo, JR, I've been listening to you for a bit and I'm sitting here and I was conflicted. At first I was going to come on and say that, you know, Tom Brady had it worse. But now after actually listening to you speak, I actually now realize that LeBron James has it worse. Because, you know, Tom Brady in all that he's done with all what everybody has said, this dude's good. This dude is still, his record is what, five and six? He's in a horrible division. But they're still at the top of the division. They're still playing for something meaningful. While LeBron James, who's, you know, trying to get into the conversation of arguably being the GOAT, you know, he's better than LeBron, better than Michael Jordan. That dude is sitting back there and he's thinking, wow, I got Westbrook.

I got, you know, broken body AD on my team and my team sucks. And right now we're heading not to be in the playoffs. Something that actually drives LeBron James crazy because that dude is so competitive that he always wants to be playing meaningful minutes. Yeah, I wouldn't agree with that because we're only really a fourth of the way through the season.

And albeit unlikely that there is some magic lightning strike that changes the course of their season, the NBA is such a volatile league with player movement that I'm going to reserve judgement on that until we get to February. Okay. But then after, you can't then turn around and say that only thing that Tom Brady has worse going for him is the speculation coming from people about his private life.

That is, no, no, no, no. If we threw out Tom Brady's private life, I can, I can, I can name every human being on his offensive line who has been hurt. I can name the current coach on his squad who is mismanaging the team. I could think about the former head coach of the squad who is still not shy about throwing Tom Brady under the bus when he makes mistakes. I could think about his wide receivers who unfortunately who some of who have started the season off injured.

I could think about a Rob Gronkowski who is not there as a security and a safety blanket. I can go through a whole lot that has absolutely nothing to do with his his private life, of which I think also has to do, unfortunately, with his decision to retire. And so you can't necessarily or fully extract his personal life. But if you don't want to talk about his divorce, I just named you about five or six things which strictly only have to deal with football. And it doesn't stop there. Hold on.

His private life has also moved him into a space where he missed part of training camp. And so that's that's a tough thing to say. OK.

Your statement is fair if I'm looking at it from the perspective that the things that you are talking about is actually meaningful to an individual like Tom Brady. Because no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Let's slow down here. Let's not have. Let me be clear here.

And excuse me, if I come off as a jerk, I probably will. Let's not have a stupid philosophical going absolutely nowhere conversation. OK, I think you would agree. And I don't I don't need you to counterpoint just to counterpoint.

Everything that I just said made absolute sense. You asked me to not talk about his divorce. And I went through four or five, six things on football that would show you that he's going through a crap situation.

And that's just over the past, I don't know, four or five months. If I have to look at the whole year dating back the last season and the moment that he even retired, that's all factual. There's no debate there. Would you agree with that?

Listen, I would agree with you 100 percent on the points that you've made. But you're not recognizing the fact that even with all those things that are happening. They are still in a great position to play meaningful football.

Oh, my God. They are in a great position to make the playoffs at five and six or five hundred. Here, Ian, I actually mentioned that. OK, I mentioned that last hour. I talked about how bad the division is. I talked about how they'll still go to the playoffs.

I would not be shocked if they went and got smacked out of the first round. And for a man who has kicked ass for the majority of his career, this is someone who's also failed in his career. People don't always want to talk about his failures because he's had so much success. When you're on the back end and you're getting your ass kicked on the way out, it doesn't feel good. Agreeable. Agreeable point. Thank you. All right. Cheers. You as well. Yeah, I know I sit here for four hours. I say a lot. Sometimes you can't pick and choose what I say that you want to, you know, argue with me against.

It don't work that way. Ralph is calling from Miami. You're CBS Sports Radio. How are you doing? Terrible. You always ask, Ralph, you ask and you. So I told you, I'm terrible. Every time you ask me how I'm doing, I'm going to I'm going to give you a different answer instead of telling you great, which I always am.

How are you doing here? That's all you don't care. Ralph, Ralph, Ralph, come on. I listen to your show every night. You think I don't care there. You're the best show host on the radio every night around this time. Somebody almost made me cry early.

You're going to make me cry, too. But I feel so hard to get your show, to be honest with you. That's how popular your show is.

Well, thank you. But to get to your point really quick, I want to answer on both like the soccer. I'm really a soccer fan also, too, but I don't know why the soccer was around this time. I have too much sport to follow to even be paying attention to soccer. I did like the game to win today, but it's hard for me to follow soccer, football, basketball.

And at the same time, even sometimes hockey, too. As far as people say, I feel like Tom Brady, I feel like LeBron is having a horrible season. Tom Brady for me is just a distraction. Because if nobody understands that when you're in a situation where your mind is stuck in the one area where you're just thinking about the situation with your wife only, you're not going to be playing good in the football field, even though he's still playing good, but he's still got a distraction in his life. But as far as LeBron, so far as just like realizing you really need young players sitting in your team right now, injuries mounting up left and right. You don't know when you're going to be able to keep it. You don't know who's going to be injured and how your team is going to be going.

But I feel like LeBron is having a horrible season because he's always want to be a winner and he does not have at least people to compete with him to keep that team up. So it's going to be a down here for them. OK, it's bittersweet. And thank you, Ralph, for calling from Miami, giving Ralph a hard time there. It's like, I'm great, Ralph.

But Ralph thought, hey, shut up. Is Ralph going to send us something in the mail? Like, he cares about us so much, he going to send us like some food or something? He's a I mean, he's a very loyal listener.

Oh, he is. I mean, I know I think Ralph genuinely cares about you every time we, you know, Jared, to kind of take people behind the scenes for a little bit. Sometimes we don't get to Ralph because Ralph calls in late. And by that point, you know, you're trying to get six or seven people on the last segment doesn't always happen. Ralph always says every single time. Totally understand.

Thank you so much for taking my call and I'll call tomorrow. Oh, so do we need to send Ralph like a gift for the holidays? I think your show is the gift, JR. Oh, thank you. Yes. You got me out of that one. I don't have to get him crap now. Well, Ralph said it, not me. You are the guy at night. There's no one better.

Oh, thanks. I don't know who else. Well, I do, but I don't listen to them because I'm sitting here. I don't, I don't listen to them.

I'm sitting here. You're also competing against the late night talk show host. I mean, the Fallon's of the world, the Kimmel's, the Colbert's.

I mean, that's pretty good company. Man, what are you talking about? He said late night. He didn't say late night radio.

Ain't nobody thinking about no Jimmy Kimmel. Well, I'm saying, but that's your competition, no? No.

Okay. You guys aren't on at the same times against each other? On television? Well, that's, I mean, it's a form of entertainment.

It's a certain medium. It's a little bit in contrast, but you're still competing. People are still either tuning into that or you.

And Pell's also your competition. I guess. We got a lot of people in transit though, right? Who's in the car watching Jimmy Kimmel?

Nobody. Well, there's streaming. One guy? I mean, there's apps. Listen, the last time I watched the late night show, David Letterman and Jay Leno was still on. Oh, that was a while ago. No, not that. Ten years. That was a while ago. You and I both know that. That was eight years ago.

Eight years is not a long time ago. And I didn't even really watch those guys. Who'd you watch?

Parson or Arsenio? Late at night? Yeah. The Lakers?

The Dodgers on the East Coast? That's what I watched. Oh, so you watched Chick? You watched Vin?

I got it. Yeah, I watched, yeah. I watched sports late at night. I'm not watching Jay Leno.

I know he was on. I saw him try to hit on Halle Berry one time. You see Letterman with Aniston?

Jennifer Aniston? Yeah, that was disgusting. No, I don't remember that one. Good.

Better off. Did he give her a top ten list? He ate her hair. Whoa. I'm not kidding. No, I don't remember that one. Yeah, that was bad.

People forget about that, but it wasn't that long ago. I have something to Google in the commercial break that's not related to sports. David Letterman eats Jennifer Aniston's hair. I'm not exaggerating. I know you're telling the truth. Wow.

It's the JR Sport Reshow here on CBS Sports Radio. I'm not eating nobody's damn hair. You don't have to worry about that. We're going to take a break. When we come back, we're going to talk about the World Cup. Which, I don't know. It's just watching it. I don't know.

I need like a little bit of a shower after. I'll explain here on CBS Sports Radio. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio. Hi, JR. Pleasure to speak to you. You know, just recently discovered your show a few weeks ago. And just got to tell you that you've got a very easy listening style.

Call in now at 855-212-4CBS. It's the JR Sport Reshow here with you on CBS Sports Radio. Wow. You talk about LeBron. You talk about Tom Brady and the opinions come out. And so much of Tom Brady's life has been publicized due to his own doing. Puts his wife and kids in interviews or his ex-wife. It's just what happens. You can't be mad people talking about a guy's private life when they publicize it. I mean, for real.

Anyway, there's a global situation going on right now. The World Cup. You might like the NFL. You might love the NBA. You might hate the NBA. You might love or hate hockey.

You might love baseball going through the hot stove season right now. But the World Cup is here. It's taking place in Qatar. Small country. Peninsula sitting out there kind of jutting up from Saudi Arabia is about the size of Connecticut. This is a country where it gets to be 120 degrees Fahrenheit.

In the desert. They basically bribed their way into having and holding the World Cup here. This was a selection made about a decade ago.

And so now it's finally here. And congratulations to the United States of America, because the United States of America, they're advancing. If you're not familiar with the World Cup, OK, I'm not shocked or surprised. Many people are.

Many people do not care. I'm going to make it interesting here for you. I hope so. When you start the World Cup off, you you start off playing like a round robin. There are groups and you get four teams to a group and they play each other. And then the top two teams from that group then move on to the knockout rounds. And so the United States of America, who didn't even qualify for the last World Cup in Russia.

That would have been interesting now, wouldn't it? The United States of America, they won. And who did they beat? Iran. Yes, the same Iran, if you keep up with news right now, that is potentially going through an uprising where the people are lashing out at over or at the government because of a young woman who was basically killed because of the government silencing this woman. And so the citizens of Iran are pretty much sick and tired of it. The Iranian soccer players, football players, they're probably tired of it as well. In the opening match for the World Cup, they decided not to fully participate in their national anthem. Well, Iran told them about it. Iran told them about it so much that it's been reported that Iran has told the players that are no longer now in the World Cup here that if you guys don't participate fully in the national anthem that we will, we're going to take care of, maybe hurt.

I'll let you use your imagination. They want to do some damage to some of their family members. The Iranians fully participated today in the national anthem as well as their last match. And so the United States of America, after having to answer questions from the Iranian press, which were just more so about politics than football, the United States of America, they won. They actually advanced. They're going to move on to take on the Netherlands on Saturday morning. The United States of America has made the round of 16.

And this is what the final call sounded like on Fox. Rezaian back inside. U.S. players are gassed. Iranians are up.

It comes into the box again. An Iranian player looking for a penalty. And the game is over.

Yeah, the United States of America is moving on. So if you want to get into football or soccer, if you happen to be up on Saturday morning, 10 a.m. Eastern or seven, obviously, from my friends on the West Coast, turn it on. Tune in. This is a match where you just you might be sucked in. Maybe not. Some people need more action. I certainly love to watch because of the strategy that's involved and paying attention to the formations.

It's not for everybody. But this is where things get sticky. The World Cup is taking place in Qatar. If you go back 30 to 40 years, maybe a little bit longer than that. This was a country that was known for like pearl farming. Yeah, pearl farming. And then they realized that they had natural gas and oil and boom, they got more money than anybody.

And so here you are in the middle of the desert, 120 degrees. This is the size of Connecticut. They built eight stadiums. We're talking about a billion dollars a stadium minimum. They don't have enough people in the country to even build these stadiums. So who built these stadiums? Migrant workers.

People who came from other parts of the world out in Asia, Nepal and India and Bangladesh. And Qatar has been just rife with issues of individuals coming over, building these stadiums and unfortunately. Dying in the process. People getting paid next to nothing to build stadiums in 120 degree heat. So the world can watch people play football. So FIFA can make money. So broadcasters can make money. So advertisers can make money.

So we can sit down and watch and enjoy it. It feels a little dirty. I love sports. Damn it, I love a lot of things. And there's always a hidden something behind everything. Somebody is always getting the short end of the stick.

And you always have to pay attention to what you consume, how deep you are and you got to make choices and decisions. Look, I love the NFL. I love football.

There are a lot of decisions that I don't like. I still watch. I think it's up to each one of us individually as to what we want to do and to what degree we want to support. I can certainly sit down and watch the World Cup. I've never been to one. I've been to Final Fours. I've been to Olympic Games. There's no way in hell I'd be in Qatar for the World Cup because there's no way that I could step foot into a stadium in such a situation.

There are people who feel that way here in the United States of America. It's a wild situation. It's the JR Sport Reshow here on CBS Sports Radio.

We're going to take a break. And on the other side, I want you to actually hear some of the situations that are going on in Qatar. I want you to hear Tyler Adams, who's a captain for the United States men's team. He was asked a question about issues in America before the game against Iran. Like, what does it have to do with anything? I want you to hear from one of the leaders in Qatar talking about how many people passed away.

Like, where's the line between enjoying sports but then looking at the humanity behind it and just kind of turning a blind eye? I want to ask Marco here. Hey, Marco, are you into the World Cup and are the stories surrounding it?

Does it matter? How do you feel about this stuff, man? Less than I have been in the past. I'm actually, I can't sit here and tell you that I'm a big soccer guy, like, you know, watching any of the Premier Leagues or anything like that. No, but I grew up around soccer because my parents are born and raised in Italy. My father breathed soccer, so I've been watching it since I was, you know, in the crib. So I do like the game. I do enjoy watching the World Cup.

I love the Euro Cup as well. This one is a little difficult by schedule and also because, as you kind of put it, it feels a little dirty. So as much as I'm trying to enjoy it, I'm having a harder time than usual just because this whole situation for over a decade has been a little difficult to stomach with how much. You knew FIFA was dirty. This took it to a level that's out of control for me, and it's hard for me to just put that aside and enjoy the game itself.

I hear that. Yeah, Qatar bribed its way into having the World Cup. Several of FIFA's leaders have been either indicted on crimes in the process here. They're shipping over migrants.

Unfortunately, this is an issue that happens all over the world to build these stadiums. Hundreds. Hundreds. I don't even know. Thousands. They don't even know the number. People have died building these stadiums for billionaires and millionaires to play in, and nobody gives a damn.

These are the times where I think it's an individual choice as to whether you want to support. We're going to talk about this on the other side. I want to share with you some of the audio that might make you want to take a shower. It's the JR Sport Reshow on CBS Sports Radio. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio. Hey, JR, thanks for taking my car. You have a great show. I listen to you on my midnight shift every night.

Call in now at 855-212-4CBS. It's the JR Sport Reshow here on CBS Sports Radio. We're talking about the World Cup. Congratulations to the United States of America, the men's national team. They beat Iran, the one to nothing. They're going to move on to take on the Netherlands this Saturday morning. They're now at the stage of the World Cup where if you lose, you are gone. And so let's see if the United States of America can continue to push on. They're at the round of 16, and let's see if they can go from 16 on to 8.

They weren't even in the last World Cup. And so we've had some great matches. It's been a cool thing to wake up in the morning and just have football or soccer on just to start the day. It's pretty cool.

So I'm certainly enjoying it. But then there's so many issues surrounding the World Cup from the host country, Qatar, how they got the World Cup, how the stadiums were built, Iran, the country. Forget the football team. They're dealing with many issues back home of uprising that even the soccer team had to address.

And the Iranian press was trying to badger the United States of America in the process. It's been very, very interesting. Are you into the World Cup right now? Do you care? Has it turned you off?

The football has been cool, but a lot of the real world issues surrounding it have just been, it's been tough to swallow. 855-2124 CBS. Justin is here from Georgia. You're on CBS Sports Radio.

Hey, JR, man. I close where I work at once or twice a week, and I look forward to hearing your station, man, and listening to you talk, man. I really appreciate what you do.

Thank you. I called, we spoke probably half a dozen times. I called you probably four or five months ago, and I told you that I was boycotting this whole World Cup because I watched a documentary about two years ago, and you probably can't find it because somebody's paid enough money to erase it from the interweb. But I have read where at least over 6,500 migrant workers have died from building these statements.

And I tell you this because I want you to understand, I had a brother that was in the military, is in the military, was in Qatar for two years, very recently, within the past four years. And we were at Thanksgiving just the other day, and somebody was asking me, have you been watching the World Cup, and I'm like, nope, I don't care. I'm boycotting it.

I was saying all the same thing, and my brother looks at me and he goes, yeah, 6,500 people have died building these statements. It is a joke. It is ungodly. It is inhumane. It is so dirty. It makes my skin crawl. I can't stand it.

I have not invested 30 seconds in this thing, and I do not care, too. I hear you. I certainly understand. Thank you, Justin. Appreciate you, man. Thank you, sir. Have a good night.

You as well. And you know this, the number has been debated. A matter of fact, Piers Morgan, he sat down with the World Cup boss, Hassan Al Thawadi, and he actually admitted, Al Thawadi did, the number, although the numbers have been debated.

Take a listen to this. Do you know how many people have died in Qatar since you won the bid in the last 12 years from any construction related to anything to do with the World Cup? In other words, new hotels, new bridges, whatever, whatever, whatever. In other words, what is the honest, realistic total, do you think, of migrant workers who died from, as a result of what they're doing for the World Cup in totality? The estimate is around 400.

Between 400 and 500, I don't have the exact number. That's something that's been discussed. I mean, there will be people, Hassan, you say that's a lot of people. One death is too many, Piers. But don't you say 400 is a price too big to pay?

What do you say to that? What I will say is, one death is a death too many, plain and simple. And I think every year, the health and safety standards on the sites are improving, at least on our sites, the World Cup sites, the ones that we're responsible for, most definitely to the extent that you've got trade unions, representatives of the German trade union, representatives of the Swiss trade union, have, just to admit at this point, have commended the work that's been done on the World Cup sites and the improvements. Right, but do you accept then, because of the improvements that have been made, that at the start, they weren't good enough, the standards?

I think overall, the need for labour reform in itself dictates that, yes, improvements have to happen. Okay, now listen. They admit to 400 to 500 deaths in putting this World Cup together, building these stadiums and hotels.

They built an entire city from scratch just to have an infrastructure for a stadium. So they can admit to 400 to 500 deaths from workers. The Guardian. I'm sure you've heard of the Guardian, reputable from over in the United Kingdom. The Guardian, via government records from some of these countries, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, India, they claim that these numbers are higher. Not 400 to 500, but 6,500.

Yes, multiples. And we don't know where it falls, as they say one death is one too many. But HBO has done an amazing job in documenting this for years now. David Scott, a few years ago, sat down with Khalid Al-Sultan, and he actually went to one of the camps where these workers are being housed, and they were living in terrible conditions. And then when he asked the gentleman in charge of it, like, do you know how they're living? He's just like, you should go check it out. And David Scott said, I did. Listen to this from HBO. They did an amazing job. This is David Scott visiting one of the workers' camps. And then he asked one of the people in charge about it, and the interview was pretty much stopped short.

Listen. Inside, the men were packed wall to wall, eight to a room. The heat was stifling, the kitchen filthy. The beds, they told us, infested with bedbugs. 22-year-old Khum lives here among 150 other men. They share two bathrooms.

This is one of two. Aspire's chief, Khalid Al-Sultan, told us that the reports of poor working and living conditions were exaggerated. If the conditions of foreign workers are not as bad as some of the reports imply, what is the truth of the conditions?

You go yourself and investigate it. I am living in a very, you know, comfortable, healthy environment. Comfortable and healthy? Of course.

We are living in a very healthy environment, Alhamdulillah. Mr. Al-Sultan, with all due respect, we have gone to the camps. You went yourself?

Yes. This week in Doha, where you have hundreds of thousands of men living in labor camps. Some of them packed into small rooms, eight men to a room, like the one we saw. Ten men sharing a toilet, no showers.

Why is it necessary to keep these men in camps at all? The man stopped the interview. He said, no, interview over. That was it? The question that got me, you've gone yourself?

You're like, you've gone? You did? You saw what happened? Oh, my God, you saw it? He basically, before he ended the interview, he then pretty much said, oh, do you guys not have issues in America? I guess that's always the go-to. You know, big bad United States of America is picking on other countries and America has issues and America has problems.

Why are you asking me? It's like the deflection. And it happens all over the world. It happens here in the United States of America. Look, ain't no place perfect. The United States of America has many issues just like the rest of the world. The two wrongs don't make a right.

And I mean, there's a lot of places that if you want to look at things on a scale, there's some things that are just horrific taking place all over the world. I mean, even one of the United States of America, before the game today against Iran, an Iranian journalist, basically, badger isn't the word. If you thought NFL and NBA players have to answer just ridiculous questions from journalists, imagine talking to a journalist basically working for the government trying to kick your ass on a podium. I'm going to share with you something that one of the American players had to answer today. And I'm going to get to more of your calls because the World Cup, the football and soccer is great to watch, but the circumstances are bananas. I'm going to take more of your calls on the other side.

It's the JR Sport Brief Show, CBS Sports Radio. If you're feeling down and having trouble getting up in the morning, here's a tip. Brush your teeth.

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This is your operating system talking, not your computers or your phones, but your internal human operating system. I'm feeling a little overloaded. Here's how you can ease my stress. Close your eyes or softly gaze at something in front of you. Now inhale for four counts. Exhale for six. Keep repeating. Much better. Longer term, there's BetterHelp Online Therapy. They'll match us with the licensed therapist we can connect with via video, phone or chat. Visit betterhelp.com slash positive and save 10 percent on our first month.